The “Smart Sand” project has tons of obstacles to climb over before it truly gets very far off the ground, but it is attempting to use large cubes, 12mm on each side, that can actually bind together to mimic real objects.

What would you call a remote-controlled, six-legged robot toy (pictured above) for kids that can shoot all kinds of projectiles? Its designer, Jaimie Mantzel, is already calling it “The Greatest Toy in the Universe” (and we think that he might be right there), but he wants you to give it a cool name.

Rotundus Groundbot, a dual-camera security bot which provides a 3D video feed is a new easy to manipulate automated surveillance tool presently being tested by government. Its interface is kept free from clutter to make the operation less complicated and this bot will roll around the ground spying on everything around it.

The most recent robot controlled by a smartphone is the Automated Music Personality (AMP) robot launched by OLogic. AMP is a two-wheeled, self-balancing robotic music player that can only be operated by an Android smartphone. OLogic has plans of shipping the robot for around $400 or less.

The Yotel chain of hotels are bringing in a new worker to their New York location. The hotel in New York will feature a robotic baggage drop-off machine. Touted as the world’s first hotel robotic luggage handler, “Yobot” loads and stores your luggage.

Visual artist Benjamin Grosser seeks to answer the question; can machines be original or creative? Grosser has created an Interactive Robotic Painting Machine that uses sounds from the environment to inspire its paint.

If you thought that robots are nothing more than humanoid thoughtless piles of iron that are controlled by real humans, well, you’re wrong. Future robots could be even smarter than some of us. And who else could create such a robot if its not Skynet? The Japanese!

Robots are pretty awesome. As great as the humanoid bots may be, it’s even better when you get something like the Kondo Spider-Bot. It’s a robot that looks like a spider, complete with spider-like limbs that move the bot in a spider-like way. There’s just one problem: it only has six legs.

Over at McGill University, a team of surgeons have successfully removed a patient’s prostate without the use of human hands. Instead, a couple of robot surgeons did the real work on the guy going under the knife. Part of the surgery team included the da Vinci robo-surgeon and the McSleepy robot anesthesiologist.

Anyone planning on illegally crossing the North/South Korean border better think twice, the government has deployed a couple sentry robots that can sense heat and motion and deploy 40mm grenades at the target, or just fire off a couple thousand rounds of ammunition its way. Audio and video is sent back to the command center allowing them to make the call on whether or not the response requires such offensive action. Check the video below for a peak at the command UI.

Our friends at Moto Labs have gone to great lengths once again to show scientifically what we already knew. Most mobile touchscreens are way behind the iPhone in their accuracy and sensitivity. Originally, using a simple test technique, their fingers, the team would slowly trace straight lines across the screens of each device using a basic drawing application. They said: “Results with straight lines indicate a high degree of sensor accuracy; less-precise sensors show the lines with wavy patterns, stair-steps, or both.”

Unfortunately, tech-nerds all over the internet were critical of this approach and demanded a more controlled data set. In other words don’t use their stubby, Cheeto-dust covered fingers.